Vatican advances beatification process for Belgium's king who abdicated rather than approve abortion

ROME (AP) — The Vatican has taken the first main step to implement Pope Francis’ wish that Belgium’s late king be beatified for having abdicated for a day rather than approve legislation to legalize abortion. The Holy See’s saint-making office on Dec. 17 established a...

A judge says Missouri's abortion ban isn’t enforceable, but there's no start date for abortions

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A judge ruled Friday that Missouri’s near-total abortion ban is unenforceable under a new constitutional amendment, though Planned Parenthood said the decision is still not sufficient for it to resume providing abortions in the state. Jackson County...

A judge says Missouri’s abortion ban isn't enforceable under new amendment, ensuring legal abortions in the state

Regional court faults El Salvador for denying a mother's access to abortion, violating her rights

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — The Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Friday found El Salvador’s government responsible for violating the rights of a young Salvadoran woman who was denied an abortion of her anencephalic fetus in a country with a total ban on abortions. The...

Minneapolis softens law on obstructing abortion clinics in response to free-speech lawsuit

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis has softened an ordinance that prohibited the obstruction of entrances and driveways to abortion clinics after anti-abortion activists sued to challenge it on free-speech grounds. The City Council this month quietly amended the ordinance to exclude...

Arizona governor urges the state to stop collecting abortion data, citing patient privacy

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is calling for legislators to repeal the state law that requires an annual abortion report, saying that it infringes on patients' privacy, which echoes other Democratic officials' push to reduce or eliminate such requirements. “The government has no place...

Supreme Court to weigh state moves to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will consider South Carolina's move to cut off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood, the latest abortion-related case since the justices overturned Roe v. Wade. The court agreed to take up the state's appeal of a lower-court...

The fate of the first-ever White House Gender Policy Council is uncertain in Trump's administration

WASHINGTON (AP) — During the transition period between President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump, there has been at least some coordination on West Wing affairs. But not when it comes to Biden's Gender Policy Council, which has worked to defend reproductive health care in the face of...

Trump chooses Herschel Walker as US ambassador to Bahamas

WASHINGTON (AP) — Herschel Walker, the football legend who unsuccessfully ran for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia, has been chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to be ambassador to the Bahamas. Trump made the announcement Tuesday in a post on Truth Social, his social media website....

Texas' abortion pill lawsuit against New York doctor marks new challenge to interstate telemedicine

Texas has sued a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a woman near Dallas, launching one of the first challenges in the U.S. to shield laws that Democrat-controlled states passed to protect physicians after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton...